One group who has benefited from the growth in the online order sector is students – especially those attending boarding schools, who were placed in complete isolation for extended periods of time. They met their basic needs, such as ordering food, clothes and stationery, through online ordering. Like students at any other school, many at Hill have benefited from online ordering.

Constantine Kontes is a 3rd form student who frequently meets his needs via online ordering.

He said, “Usually I would like to order some food from outside once a week to make a difference. Since it is dangerous and not possible to go out for something to eat, I started to use DoorDash like my friends. These ordering applications help me a lot because they let me eat the things which I would like to whenever I want.”

Alex Li, another 3rd form student, also meets many of his needs with the online order method.

He said, “Since my family could not come with me when school started, I had to leave my country without getting some of my needs. However, I ordered many of my needs through Amazon. I started my school without any trouble by quickly ordering many of my needs from the internet, which are required by the school in our dormitory.”

Stating that he also bought the necessary materials for the school project, Li said that these kinds of applications save time instead of hours-long market trips. 

Kierpa Singh is a 3rd form student who uses online ordering for distinct purposes and recommends these services to other students as well.

She said, “I usually use online ordering websites to buy clothes. Because of the pandemic, it has become almost impossible for me to go out of school and go shopping; that’s why it saves me time to order the clothes I like online. Besides, I can order food from outside with my friends and order the little things I need.”

Although e-commerce and online ordering were growing rapidly before the coronavirus hit, the pandemic caused such companies to grow at even higher rates. Such influence stems from previous nationwide curfews and shop closures, which forced people to turn to online shopping. According to the data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, in 2020 online ordering companies grew 30% on average compared with the previous year. The online shopping industry increased its share in the American market by 3 percent compared to 2019.

People opted to stay in their homes as much as they could to decelerate the spread of COVID-19 and to return to normal life as soon as possible. Since they could not go out in the face of this situation, they met their basic needs by ordering items like food, clothing, and other goods from the internet. According to a chart published by the U.S. Census Bureau, online ordering, particularly for groceries, grew more than any other sector in 2020 compared with the previous year. This online ordering trend mostly benefited a string of major companies such as Amazon, eBay, Target, Best Buy and Walmart.

Artisans and local companies that took advantage of social media and shopping websites also grew and survived the shutdowns. The findings from UNCTAD show a strong uptick of e-commerce across regions, with consumers in emerging economies making the greatest shift to online shopping. This case also helped business owners to expand their customer range and offer their goods to the global market.